


The Great Race, or History Has A Way of Repeating Itself!

by DixieDale



Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Garrison's Gorillas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-18 22:33:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14861534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: They say those who ignore the lessons of the past are bound to repeat it.  Sometimes, that's not such a bad thing.  Though why a history lesson and the story of a masterful con has Garrison turning bright red and wishing desperately that he has someplace else he could be, has the rest of the crew laughing their fool heads off, and Ciena O'Donnell smirking like crazy, well, therein lies a story.   As for Meghada, she has a smile of appreciation on her face that just had to be seen to be believed.  Sometimes having history repeat itself just means you are very, very lucky!





	The Great Race, or History Has A Way of Repeating Itself!

The morning started much like any other when they were not on a Mission; funny, most of their days there started out calm, but hardly ever stayed that way. Sometimes they stayed relatively uneventful til, oh, say, a good half hour after Casino opened his eyes. Not often, but now and again.

This morning, Casino was in the kitchen putting together a pot of coffee; the others were trickling down from above; with the Lieutenant in his office and Sergeant Major off thinking up some new shit for them to do on the obstacle course, it actually WAS rather peaceful. He could hear Chief and Actor coming down the stairs. Goniff wasn't down yet, but he liked a good lie-in in the morning, and was usually the last to budge, even when he hadn't had a late evening at the pub, or over at the cottage.

It had been dark when Casino awoke, really needing that coffee, and had headed down trying not to wake anyone. Of course, it wasn't even 5:30 yet so it's not like any of them had really slept in, just not up well before dawn like sometimes.

He turned around at a knock at the kitchen door, and when it opened a familiar red head poked its way in, "any chance of sharing out a cup of that coffee I smell?" she grinned, and he laughed.

"Sure, kid; but you'll have to be satisfied with my company, he ain't down yet."

A sly look crossed her face as she agreed thoughtfully, "no, he's probably not," with a funny grin he couldn't figure out.

As she spoke, Actor and Chief came in from the hall. "Coffee! Hope you made it, Casino, not the Warden! That's the last good coffee pot; he keeps burning out the bottoms, Sergeant Major's gonna havta start buyin em by the case," Chief offered.

From Actor, a polite if slightly questioning, "good morning, Meghada, you are visiting us early." 

She grinned over at them and started, "well, it seemed like a good idea, but I'm not . . ." when Garrison walked in thru the entry.

He looked around, frowned, looked at her again, and hesitated. "Was there something you wanted?" he said abruptly. His men looked at each other in puzzlement; the Warden was on good terms with the woman. {"what's with the chill?"} was obviously each of their minds.

"And, by the way, I'm Lieutenant Garrison; mind giving me your name?"

Now the guys really got concerned; {"Did the Warden get hit in the head again on that last mission and didn't tell us? What the Hell?"}

{"Thought so,"} Cally thought with some satisfaction. {"Had a feeling he'd know I wasn't Meghada. Oh, Goniff, quite a lad you are, I'm thinking; you've got them both caught fast, and without even trying, from what I've heard!"}

She knew only that kind of a tie would've let him recognized the differences between her and her cousin so easily, unless it was a direct tie, and she was sure that wasn't the case; Meghada didn't have any room in her heart for anyone else, at least not yet; the blond Englishman occupied it fully.

"Good morning, Lieutenant, they call me Cally; I'm Meghada's cousin. And if I'm to guess," she said with a small smile, looking at each of the men, who were looking at her with widening eyes, in turn, "I'd say you were Chief, Actor, Casino, yes?" Lynn took that moment to come in, and saw the situation with a smile. "And you'd be Lynn," with a smile and nod.

Lynn couldn't tell the Clans women apart, as such, but she'd met one or two others, and knew how very alike they were. She wasn't sure why this one was in the Mansion kitchen, but thought it might prove interesting. Contact with the Clan usually was, in one way or the other. 

Actor's eyes were wary, Casino's disbelieving, Chief was staying neutral. The Lieutenant repeated, "was there something you wanted? The cottage is down the road; did you get lost?"

"No, I stopped there first, but I could tell it was an inopportune time to announce myself. I waited outside by the gate a bit, quite a while in fact, but got impatient and decided I really needed my coffee, so, since you are all on the 'Friends and Family list', I'd thought to try here," she said comfortably, leaning back in her chair, totally at ease.

There was more of a lilt to her voice than Meghada had, more pronounced, and the cadence of her words, not quite Irish or Scots, Actor realized now. He would have been hard pressed to tell them apart otherwise.

"Inopportune time?" Garrison asked, with raised brows.

"Aye, well, I've excellent hearing and your blond laddie has a good clear voice, and he sings sweetly," she said, glancing down at the coffee cup Chief had placed in front of her, and nodded her thanks to him with a smile.

"You mean Goniff? Didn't know he was over there, but lady, you need your ears checked! The Limey can't sing, that I can tell you, sounds more like a frog," Casino laughed.

Cally shot a quick glance at Garrison up through her lashes before she replied. "Really? Mayhap you've just never heard him at the right times, under the right circumstances, under the right, uh, encouragement?"

Lynn choked on her coffee, grabbing a napkin to mop up the spillage; Garrison looked startled, then appalling himself, turned pink. {"Yes, he's heard that song!"} Cally laughed to herself, though keeping that pleasant, even look on her face.

Chief couldn't stop the slight grin that crossed his usually solemn face, and only when Actor snickered did Casino catch on. Putting that together with her earlier agreement with his inital greeting, he groaned loudly, {"Sheesh, that's not really a picture I needed with my coffee!"}

"Takes me back to that little episode in Valaise," she chuckled, "when Count Enzenberg challenged Rene DuClos to the auto race."

Actor looked over at her sharply, obviously familiar with the names, perhaps with the incident, {"Thought he might be, though not with our version of it, I'm sure,"} Cally thought gleefully, though obviously he was totally lost as to any possible segue from one topic to the other.

He tried to prompt her, "I had a friend who witnessed that duel; I'm not sure I see. . ."

"Get Meghada to tell you the story sometime; she was the one most intimately involved, and she has such a way with words, quite a clever tongue, you know. Or maybe Ciena, she was there too."

Lynn was now avoiding everyone's eyes, in an attempt to keep from laughing, {"No, I can't, I WON'T look at any of them, especially my brother!"}

In her own way, Cally was as much as a prankster as Casino, just as Lynn had heard from Meghada, and Ciena not much better; Lynn knew they were being set up, maybe Meghada too, though she didn't know quite how, but she figured it would be enlightening, to say the least. 

About then, Goniff ducked in the kitchen door, a little startled and a trifle dismayed at the crowd around the table. He'd hoped to be back much earlier, come downstairs with the rest of the guys, but things hadn't quite turned out that way.

{"Not that I'm complaining, mind you,"} he thought to himself with a grin, {"right nice start to the day that was."}

He raised his brows at the sight of the girl seated at the table, "if you're looking for Meghada, she's at the cottage, you know."

"Yes," she smiled serenely up at the small Englishman, "I know. I'd best be getting over there; I'd a friend traveling thru here and I caught a ride. Thought she and I could travel up to the festivities together."

At the raised eyebrows, she told them casually, "Patrick, Meghada's brother, you know, finished his training and trials; a regular doctor he is now, and able to visit back home more easily, though he'll probably still work among the Outlanders til this war is ended. Reagana, that's my younger sister, made no secret that she'd waited quite long enough, and seemingly he and James agreed they could get a break from the hospital now, so they are traveling in together. It makes sense for Meghada and me to travel home to witness the wed-ing together as well."

Actor spoke desultory, being polite; he had no interest in the answer, but something seemed to be called for. "So Patrick is marrying Reagana, or is it James?" She looked up at him as if he was slightly dense, which frankly was not a look the tall Italian conman was accustomed to receiving, him priding himself on his intelligence and education.

"Well, they're all three wed-ing each other, acourse; seems like twould be best if they were all there, you know. Not essential of course," she explained calmly, ignoring their stunned faces, "we've had more than a few shield weddings, what with the war, but certainly more pleasant for them for all three to be there! And it's not like she'll be running any more Contract work, not with HQ thinking she's dead! Thank you for the coffee, I'll see you around again, I'm sure," and with a bright smile, dashed out the kitchen door, headed back to the cottage.

On the way she grinned mischievously to herself; yes, she was really a great deal like Casino! She made a note to relate all of this to Ciena, just so she'd be prepared when the right time came.

In the kitchen behind them, no one said a word, everyone made a point of not looking at anyone else, and they all quickly found someplace else to be. Though Goniff did get a few sideways glances later that evening, and a couple of grins that he didn't quite understand, the cup of tea Lynn provided after supper, sweetened with honey, was a special treat; her comment that it was 'good for the throat, especially if you're going to be doing any singing,' had passed him by, though the incredulous look she'd received from Casino was priceless!

One mission followed another, with little down time, and it was coming along winter before Meghada and her mischief-making sister Ciena were called upon to recount the tale of Rene DuClos and the race. Ciena had visited the cottage a few times, and had sat in on a couple of sessions at The Doves, and spent a couple of evenings at the Mansion in the company of her sister, and the men had gotten used to her saying just whatever seemed to cross her mind. They looked at it more as an occasionally awkward, if unsettling, slip of the tongue; she and Meghada looked on it as a gentle way of letting them know that with their new relationship with the Clan, they were 'not in Kansas anymore,' as Dorothy had learned from her experiences in Oz. Really, what WERE they supposed to do, hold a formal lecture series on "What You Need To Know As New Members of the Clan Friends and Family Group"?

However, the time finally came; it had been a slow day, cold and miserable, now with the heavy rains setting in; Garrison had made them practice on the firing range anyway, and go thru the obstacle course, "you planning on it being dry and sunny on all our missions? Get a move on! Now!!" After dinner, they were just looking for some quiet amusement, since the Warden had ruled out a trip to The Doves.

Prompted by a call from Lynn, the two young women drove over from the cottage and joined them in the Common Room, bringing a bottle of whiskey and one of bourbon with them. Actor was bored with reading, his pipe tobacco was stale, and he remembered what Cally had said about Switzerland. He prompted Meghada (to Ciena's total delight!) with, "your cousin Cally said you were there for the challenge between Rene DuClos and Count Enzenberg. I have heard that was quite the spectacle."

Meghada looked startled, looking over to Ciena, "I wonder what brought that up?" she asked, while Ciena just murmured, "don't know, but something must have come up to remind her." Lynn and the guys (all except Goniff who was looking around questioningly) remembered, and settled back, with one or two amused chuckles, for what they hoped would be a good story. Lynn was sure now that they were ALL being set up, including or maybe particularly, Meghada!

Ciena almost wiggled in her chair; that conversation with Cally had brought back such memories! And she had agreed with her cousin, if the right opportunity presented itself, this would be a masterful history lesson.

She remembered the way her sister had been during that visit to Switzerland, the eager look in her eyes, the caressing tone of her voice as she addressed the object of her adoration, the not being able to keep her hands from reaching out and gently stroking, the out and out lust! She was becoming accustomed to seeing all that in her sister again, though with quite a different focus, and was most happy for it.

The military contracts had eaten up the years since Switzerland for Meghada, and Ciena had become afraid her sister had lost her capacity for joy. Hopefully, relating the tale, some things would come thru loud and clear; the correlations were just too strong to miss, if she did it right.

Actually as long as she was sure Meghada made the connection, that history had repeated itself, she'd be satisfied, though she really wanted more than that if possible. She'd have to be subtle, well as much as she did subtle {"I'd be the first to admit, it's not my forte"}, let them all think thru the story and come to their own conclusions. There she differed from Casino; he didn't do too much build up, just a little - pretty much liked to just lay it all out there for an immediate reaction; she liked for the audience to have to work for it, see the dawning realization. Still, this could be so good!

Casino glanced over at her, {"that look on her face, it's awful familiar; she reminds me of someone, just can't remember who,"} not recognizing himself at the height of one of his setups. Lynn, on the other hand, knew exactly who Ciena reminded her of, Casino at his most devious. {"Good grief, if those two ever teamed up, we'd never get any peace!"}

****. The story as related by Meghada and Ciena: 

"The three of us, Patrick, Ciena and myself, had just finished a little job, quite interesting, quite profitable, never mind where or what," Meghada said with a happy smile, "and felt the need to be somewhere, uh, cooler for awhile. I'd had a two month gap before I had to take up the second year of my first contract and still have a few weeks left. Rene DuClos was an old friend of my father and we had an open invitation to visit whenever we liked, and it was pretty much on the way home. My older brother Patrick had just turned seventeen, I was just a little over sixteen, Ciena was almost thirteen; she was with us on the job just as an educational experience before she started her Internship." There were a few raised eyebrows at that, considering the impression they'd gotten that the 'job' had been more on the 'not' side of legal.

"Rene DuClos had been a conman, a really good one, for most of his life."

Actor interjected, "a very good one, indeed, as I recall."

Meghada nodded vigorously, continuing, "yes, when he semi-retired, he bought a place in Valaisse, in Switzerland, in the mountains. He had a great love of racing and race cars, and he'd built a course on his property for his own enjoyment. It started out as a simple long lap around the perimeter of the holding, nothing particularly daunting, but when you got to the end, you could elect to veere off to the right, and the course led you up into the mountains, along sheer drop offs, with hairpin curves, doglegs, s-curves, double-s curves, up steep embankments, down slopes so steep you'd think yourself mad to walk down them, much less drive. Oh, he loved that course, and many of his friends would give it a try, albeit at much slower speeds than he'd use. They used to chide him and his family, that they'd be attending services for him, but certainly without a body, since there'd be nothing left of him when he finally took a tumble off the side of a mountain. He'd laugh, his wife would sigh and shake her head and say, "but what's to do, Rene, he's always chosen his own way." Well, you don't stay married to a con man for that many years without a goodly dose of pragmatism." Lynn found herself making a particular note of that resigned bit of philosophy. 

"Rene had a small stable of racing cars, an Armstrong-Siddeley, a Lancia, a Vitesse, a couple of others. He and his friends would take turns taking them over the route. Occasionally, he'd get challenged by an outsider to a race, and sometimes he'd give in and accept, especially if there was a wager involved and funds were running a bit low. He never seemed to lose, no matter which car he drove. Each of those cars had a gas tank that held, just barely, enough fuel to finish the course, and only if you knew how to martial the fuel properly. Many of his challengers had to be towed in for the last quarter mile, sometimes much farther if their nerve failed them. He'd planned the course well; cars big enough to hold an excess of fuel were too cumbersome to handle the curves - the ones steamlined enough to handle the curves, well, their fuel capacity just wouldn't stretch to handle the mileage with anything to spare. As I said, Rene was an experienced con artist!"

"When we visited, he let each of us, yes, Ciena too, try out the track, first as passenger to his driver, then with him as passenger, and finally, Patrick and me on our own. Ciena he laughed and told to come back in a few years and he'd let her loose then. We didn't break any records, certainly, with those cars, but I thought it was fun. Patrick lost interest quickly; he preferred to work with the herbalist in the village, and cars had never been a strong draw for him anyway. Besides, he told us, he was studying to be a doctor to put bodies back together; having his own smashed apart on the side of a mountain had little appeal."

Ciena interjected, "Tell them about the Renata, sister." {"If I don't get her going in the right direction, this isn't going to be any better than if Actor told it, and I'll have wasted a great opportunity!"}

Meghada raised an eyebrow at her sister, a little puzzled at the interruption, {"I was getting there, sister,"} but shrugged. "In addition to his race cars, Rene had a little pale blue Renata, what he called his runabout. He used it to go to the village, and sometimes he'd just take it out for a drive when he needed some alone time." She smiled in remembrance, a smile a lot warmer than you'd think a car would induce.

Ciena broke in, shaking her head, impatiently, "Meghada liked all the cars, loved driving them, but that Renata fascinated her, for some reason. I'd find her walking around it, frown on her face, running her hand along the hood or the bumper, as if it was a puzzle she just couldn't make out. Patrick said she just had a bee in her bonnet since it was an unlikely car for Rene to own, much less spend so much time in, when he had the others to choose from. Then one day, she came into the kitchen, with this odd little smile on her face, and asked Rene if she could borrow the runabout. He looked at her for a long time, before he nodded and told her "Yes" and reached up to get the key from the inside of the cabinet door where he kept it, separate from the keys to the race cars. Then he pointed with one finger and added, "but, I'm coming with you." The two of them went out, and thru the window we saw them slowly drive off, Meghada at the wheel, Rene riding shotgun."

" They were gone for quite awhile, and came back the same way they drove off, sedately, Meghada at the wheel. She parked the car in the garage, the two came out and halfway across the yard, where she just stopped, stood stark still, threw her head back at the sky and screamed like a banshee, shrieking with laughter! Rene just stood there grinning at her, proudly, like she was a favorite daughter who'd just done something brilliant. We thought she'd gone totally around the bend, and him with her; by the time we'd dashed across the yard, she was on her knees, arms braced on the ground behind her, shaking her head, still laughing and assuring Rene, "Da always said you were one of the best; there's no getting around it, Rene, you still are!" We got nothing else out of her, about what had happened or been said to provoke such a response."

"After that, she didn't take out any of the other cars, told me the Renata 'spoke' to her. Well, I don't know what it said, but the look of anticipation on her face when she started out, and the look of total bliss on her face when she returned had us really wondering!" She paused to give her sister a look of pure deviltry, and took a fast glance around the room, lingering just a second or two longer on the Englishman's face, when she chuckled again.

"Patrick told Rene that it made him very, very uncomfortable to see his own sister with that look on her face, that he'd never thought to see that look on a woman's face outside a bedroom, and when he thought that it was a car that made her look like that, well, he didn't want to think about it at all!"

Meghada was starting to get an inkling where Ciena was steering this story; she didn't know whether to be embarrassed, intrigued, or annoyed. One thing, though, she owed her sister and cousin her thanks; she might not have made the connection herself without her urging.

{"That would have been a shame, a little self-knowledge is most valuable. Well, we'll see how it plays out; hopefully there'll be no hurt feelings over this. I don't think I could stop her anyway and if I stay in the game, I might be able to get it from going TOO far over the top."}

Meghada took over. "We'd been there about three weeks when Count Enzenberg showed up in the village; he'd had motor trouble otherwise he'd not have 'deigned to honor such a small place with his illustrious presence'. Yes, he was really that much of an ass! An aristocratic ass, though; the title was legitimate, at least at that time, before the Germans disallowed so many of the old titles, and supposedly quite wealthy. He heard in the village about Rene, about the race cars and the track. Now, you must understand, the Count fancied himself a great sportsman, certainly a great driver of cars!"

"He first approached Rene in the village, suggesting a match. Rene declined; I didn't know whether he truly didn't want to race the Count, or whether he was just putting the con into position. I'd never worked with him on a job, so I couldn't read him that well, not then anyway." Actor was looking at her with great speculation at that statement.

"Next the Count sent a message by one of his friends, repeating the challenge, and offering a very substantial wager. When Rene refused that as well, he waited til we were all at a wedding in the village. He taunted Rene, called him a coward, unworthy of his reputation; said he doubted the stories about how Rene had won other matches - really, forcing the issue. He upped his wager, to something about the equivalent of maybe $5,000 dollars, and Rene waivered, just a bit. The Count moved in for the kill, and upped the bid to $10,000, sure Rene didn't have the money to pay up if he lost, sure he'd win by default, and then, proceeded to try and humiliate Rene totally. He ended by telling everyone that he thought the only way Rene had ever won was because he had a choice of different cars, where the challenger would only have the one he came in, so Rene had the opportunity to chose which of his own had the best advantage over the challenger. Rene was standing there, shaking, getting red in the face, and finally lost his temper and shouted, "yes, alright, I'll race you, I'll take the wager, and you can even choose which car from my stable I'll drive!" It was set that the meet would take place the following day, and the wedding broke up to the sound of all the jaws flapping about the challenge, the answer, people laying bets, anything and everything." 

Ciena took over: "Meghada had stood totally still, watching this, and when the Count had stalked away, so full of himself, I saw her give Rene this tiny smile. "I'll help you get ready, if you like," and he smiled in return, his prior temper vanished, nowhere in sight, "I'd like that very much."

Meghada continued the saga. "The next day, everyone in the village streamed up to the homestead. The Count, in his fancy car, with his fancy friends in their fancy cars arrived shortly before the appointed hour. Rene, looking a little apprehensive, indeed, a little breathless and scared, walked with the Count to the garage, waiting for the Count to select the car Rene would drive. We had rigged a tarp over the opening in the wall between where the race cars were housed and where the Renata called home, but obviously we'd not done so good a job; seems you could still get just a tiny little glimpse, enough to recognize there was a car in there. The Count walked around of the race cars, studying them, frowning, walking back to study again, when he passed the tarp, and with a laugh, pulled it aside. There sat the runabout. Rene's eyes got big, and he started to stammer something about that just being the car they fetched supplies in, you know. The Count let out a sneer, and said, "DuClos, you said any car in your stable; I chose this one. You drive this one, or you forfeit right now." Rene, deflated, seemed to realize he had no choice, so he had me fetch the key and lined the Renata up next to the sleek sports car the Count had brought, though still protesting. People who had placed bets on Rene were all in shock; a light-weight Renata wouldn't be able to make it up the first grade, stay on the track on those tight curves, and it was known the fuel tank only held half as much as the other cars, always needing refueling," with another sly grin. A certain suspicion was starting to come to one or two faces, only to be immediately rejected by the owners as their imagination, though Lynn was have a really difficult time keeping a smile off her face.

Ciena spoke up, "they all started trying to shift their bets, and there is my sister taking on all comers, "out of loyalty, he is our host, after all!" HUMPHFF! Right, loyalty, my Aunt Fannie! Later, I watched her smugly collect enough in winnings to make her share of our job look paltry, especially from the Count's fancy friends. That night, over a bottle of good red wine, she and Rene shared the secret with Patrick and me. Seems the Renata had a few secrets, modifications, ones she'd seemed to sense the first time she saw it; that's why she was so fascinated. I'd seen her tracing one index finger, sometimes the back of her hand over the lines of that car so many times," {"just like she runs that one index finger along his cheek, the back of her hand over his jaw line"} she giggled to herself.

"Steel plate along the base between the special reinforced axles brought the weight up to match the bigger cars, but with better balance; second fuel tank with automatic crossover feed for when the first tank ran dry, tilted so that while other cars would be on empty with still a bit of fuel in the tank but not able to be accessed, the Renata would go to the last drop. It'd go from zero to full out in less than 10 seconds, stop on a dime with no fish tailing. Once it was going full out, made this sound like a cross between a deep purr and full out growl," at which she threw a quick sly glance from under her lashes in the direction of the unsuspecting Goniff. "Enhanced alignment and steering. Meghada said that when going around the curves in the other cars, you'd have to use all your strength to make the turn, which made it really hard when you had to immediately switch back to take the second part of an S curve or worse, on one of the double-S curves. Anything complicated, the other cars just didn't have the flexibility to handle well."

Garrison was now sitting stark upright, his flushed face a picture of horrified incredulity, trying desperately to think of something, ANYTHING! in his office that needed his immediate attention, anything to get him away from HERE!

"The Renata, my dear sister rhapsodized, the barest touch on the wheel, a mere tap on the gas or brake, and you had instant response, perfect maneuverability, gauged to the millimeter."

Lynn now had her head turned slightly toward the fireplace, trying to hold in her laughter, eyes glowing with the effort. Chief was squinting, slightly frowning as if the pieces were sliding into place.

"Yes, she'd had that Renata up on that damn course of Rene's, full speed, many times over the past weeks! Patrick was ready to strangle her when he found out! I made her take me up before we left; she didn't take it full out, not nearly, my heart wouldn't have taken it, but when we got back to the house, I got out and came close to kissing the ground I was so glad to be back alive! Way out of my pay grade, I'll tell you that! Rene told her he'd leave that car to her in his will, as no one else had ever understood or handled it as well as she did."

The snicker from Chief, of all people, started it. Lynn joined followed by Casino, and then Actor, laughter now filling the room. Garrison was, for some reason, bright red in the face. Ciena was leaning back in her chair in satisfaction. Meghada had leaned over to whisper something in her Englishman's ear, and although he turned a healthy shade of pink, grinned and didn't seem to be too upset. In fact, from that speculative look in his pale blue eyes, it seems he might have been considering a few OTHER fancy manoeuvres to try.


End file.
